www.HockeyEastOnline.com Pete Souris Director of Public Relations Hockey East Association MEN’S 591 North Ave – #2 Wakefield, MA 01880 WEEKLY Office: (781) 245-2122 Cell: (603) 512-1166 RELEASE [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010 WEEKLY RELEASE #24 BOSTON COLLEGE WINS LEAGUE RECORD NINTH HOCKEY EAST TOURNEY TITLE ~ BC, UNH, Vermont all qualify for NCAA Tournament this weekend~ Wakefield, Mass. - The Boston College Eagles skated to their league-record ninth Hockey East Tournament Championship on Saturday night against Maine at the TD Garden, thanks to a RECENT RESULTS hat trick from Tournament MVP Matt Lombardi (Milton, Mass.). Lombardi scored just 5:25 into the Friday, March 12 extra frame to give the Eagles the thrilling 7-6 victory to cap off a four-point game for the senior Hockey East Quarterfinals Game 1 at No. 1 UNH 7, No. 8 Vermont 4 assistant captain. at No. 2 BC 6, No. 7 Massachusetts 5 Both Tanner House (Cochrane, Alb.) and Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week Joey Diamond at No. 3 Boston U. 3, No. 6 Merrimack 2 (Long Beach, N.Y.) registered three points apiece for the Black Bears. Diamond scored two goals, No. 5 UMass-Lowell 2 at No. 4 Maine 1 which included the game-tying goal with 27 seconds to go in regulation. Saturday, March 13 On Friday in the second tilt of the night, Maine defeated Boston University by a final score of Hockey East Quarterfinals Game 2 5-2. Maine jumped to an early three-goal advantage showing no nerves plotting two goals in the No. 8 Vermont 1 at No. 1 UNH 0 at No. 2 BC 5, No. 7 Massachusetts 2 first period alone. It was a total team effort as eleven Black Bears found their way on to the scor- No. 6 Merrimack 3 at No. 3 Boston U. 2 OT ing sheet. The Terriers regrouped and found a late surge in the third period registering two goals at No. 4 Maine 2, No. 5 UMass-Lowell 0 but it was not enough to stop the top-ranked power play of the Black Bears. Maine netminder Sunday, March 14 Dave Wilson (Caledon East, Ont.) registered 22 saves in the winning effort. The Black Bears Hockey East Quarterfinals Game 3 earned their bid to the Hockey East Championship game for the first time since 2004 No. 8 Vermont 1 at No. 1 UNH O OT at No. 3 Boston U. 3, No. 6 Merrimack 0 In the first semifinal game on Friday, Boston College blanked Vermont by a 3-0 score. With at No. 4 Maine 3, No. 5 UMass-Lowell 2 OT the win, BC advanced to the Hockey East title game for the 14th year in program history. Eagle Rookie Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass.), who is no stranger to the big stage scored the first goal Friday, March 19 Hockey East Semifinals (at TD Garden) of the game opening the doors for BC . Despite tough pressure from the Catamounts, BC scored No. 8 Vermont 3 vs. No. 2 Boston College 0 two more unanswered goals, one in each period. Jimmy Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.) registered a No. 4 Maine 5 vs. No. 3 Boston U. 2 five-point weekend including a goal and two assists against Vermont to finish as the tournament’s Saturday, March 20 leading scorer with seven points (2g,5a). Vermont’s ace in goal Rob Madore (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Hockey East Championship Game stopped 30 shots in goal but the shutout went to BC’s John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.) who No. 2 Boston College 7 vs. No. 4 Maine 6 OT earned his second shutout in the TD Garden this season with 30 stops. UPCOMING GAMES Friday, March 26 East Regional (Times Union Center, Albany, NY) No. 3 UNH vs. No. 2 Cornell (6:30pm, ESPNU HD) West Regional (XCel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn.) 2009-2010 HEA STANDINGS No. 4 Vermont vs. No. 1 Wisconsin (9pm, ESPNU HD) Rk. Team GP W L T Pts Overall Conf. Off. Conf. Def. Saturday, March 27 1. New Hampshire *& 27 15 6 6 36 17-13-7 3.63 (98) 2.85 (77) Northeast Regional (DCU Center, Worcester, Mass.) No. 4 Alaska vs. No. 1 BC (1:30pm, ESPN360) 2. Boston College * & 27 16 8 3 35 25-10-3 3.67 (99) 2.26 (61) 3. Boston University * & 27 13 12 2 28 18-17-3 3.44 (93) 3.37 (91) East Regional Final (6:30 pm, ESPNU HD) Maine * & 27 13 12 2 28 19-17-3 3.52 (95) 3.33 (90) UMass-Lowell * 27 12 11 4 28 19-16-4 3.04 (82) 2.67 (72) West Regional Final (9pm, ESPNU HD) 6. Merrimack * 27 12 13 2 26 16-19-2 3.04 (82) 3.15 (85) Sunday, March 28 Massachusetts * 27 13 14 0 26 18-18-0 2.67 (72) 3.19 (86) Northeast Regional Final (5:30, ESPNU) 8. Vermont * 27 9 11 7 25 17-14-7 2.89 (78) 3.04 (82) 9. Northeastern 27 11 14 2 24 16-16-2 2.59 (70) 3.22 (87) * denotes Hockey East Game All Games are EST 10. Providence 27 5 18 4 14 10-20-4 1.70 (46) 3.37 (84) * clinched playoff berth; & clinched quarterfinal playoff home ice ATHLETIC REPUBLIC PRO AMBITIONS PURE HOCKEY DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK ROOKIE OF THE WEEK PLAYER OF THE WEEK MATT LOMBARDI JOEY DIAMOND JOHN MUSE BOSTON COLLEGE MAINE BOSTON COLLEGE Senior Forward; Milton, Mass. Freshman Forward; Long Beach, N.Y. Junior Goaltender; East Falmouth, Mass. Recorded four points, including his first collegiate hat Diamond posted three goals and added an as- trick and the overtime goal that lifted BC to its ninth Muse registered 56 saves on the weekend, includ- sist in the Hockey East Championships, which ing Friday’s 30-save shutout against Vermont. league championship against Maine, en route to Tourna- included the game-tying goal with 27 seconds left ment MVP honors. Was named to the All-Tournament Team for his in regulation on Saturday night vs. BC. efforts. BOSTON COLLEGE • BOSTON UNIVERSITY • UNIVERSITY of MAINE • UNIVERSITY of MASSACHUSETTS • UMASS-LOWELL MERRIMACK COLLEGE• UNIVERSITY of NEW HAMPSHIRE • NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY • PROVIDENCE COLLEGE • UNIVERSITY of VERMONT HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY TOP PERFORMERS Nick Bonino, BU (Jr., F, Unionville, Conn.) Assisted on both of BU’s goals on Friday vs. Maine to finish with a team-high 38 points David deKastrozza, Maine (Sr., F, Toms River, N.J.) Had two goals and an assist on the weekend at the Garden vs. BU and BC. Jimmy Hayes, BC (Fr., F, Dorchester, Mass.) Registered a team-high five points (2g,3a) in tournament wins over Vermont and Maine; tallied one goal and two assists in a 3-0 semifinal-round victory over Vermont and one goal and one assist in a 7-6 championship win over Maine. Tanner House, Maine (Jr., F, Cochrane, Alb.) Had two goals and two assists on the week in two games at the Garden. Chris Kreider, BC (Fr., F, Boxford, Mass.) Registered four points (1g,2a) in tournament wins over Vermont and Maine. Rob Madore, UVM (So., G, Pittsburgh, Pa.) Before allowing a goal to BC in the final minutes of the first period on Saturday Madore went 151:41 with out allowing a goal in the HEA Tournament. Vinny Saponari, BU (So., F, Powder Springs, Ga.) Tallied a goal and an assist in the semifinal loss to Maine Kevin Shattenkirk, BU (Jr., D, New Rochelle, N.Y.) Recorded a goal and an assist in the semifinal loss to Maine Carl Sneep, BC (Sr., D, Nisswa, Minn.) Tallied two points (1g,1a) in tournament victories over Vermont and Maine and earned All-Tournament Team ac- colades. Congratulations to Boston College on CAREER FIRSTS/MILESTONES/WHO’S HOT? winning the 26th annual Hockey East Tournament Barry ALMEIDA, BC (SPRINGFIELD, MASS.) has four goals and five points in the last four games JIMMY Hayes (DORCHESTER, MASS.) Finished the league championship with a tournament-best seven points (2g,5a) in four victories The 27th annual Hockey East Championship TANNER HOUSE, MAINE (COCHRANE, ALB.) Scored a goal in four straight games to end the season will be held on March 18-19, 2011 at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass. Matt LOMBARDI, BC (Milton, MASS.) Registered the first career hat trick of his career and finished the league tournament with a tied with Barry Almeida (Springfield, Mass.) with a team-high four goals CARL SNEEP, BC (NISSWA, MINN.) Extended his scoring streak to five games (2-3-5), marking his third five-game scoring streak this season. HOCKEY EAST THREE STARS AWARD Sneep also tallied five-game streaks from Oct. 23 – Nov. 7 and from Nov. 20 – Dec. 5. At the conclusion of each Hockey East game, the “Three Stars of The Game” are selected. Congratulations to UNH’s Bobby Butler for winning this year’s Three Stars Award. Rk. Name Cl. Pos. School 1. Bobby Butler Sr. F New Hampshire 2. Alex Beaudry So. G Providence College 3. Gustav Nyquist So. F Maine 4. Cam Atkinson So. F Boston College Brian Gibbons Jr. F Boston College 6. Brayden Irwin Sr. F Vermont 7. Rob Madore So. G Vermont 8. Stephane Da Costa Fr. F Merrimack 9. Kory Falite Sr. F UMass-Lowell Wade MacLeod Jr. F Northeastern TEAM NOTES New Hampshire: UNH and Cornell will meet in the NCAA Tournament for the third time. The Wildcats won the two previous NCAA meetings Boston College: BC earned its 25th win of the season, marking (4-3 in 2002 second round, 3-2 in 2003 national semifinal).